I found a dog friendly hotel weeks in advance and booked it. I wasn't going to volunteer that there was almost 300lbs of dogs that were going to visit; but I DID ASK if they had a breed restriction or anything like that. The concierge said their policy was a limit of two. Any two. Like my two. Needless to say, to avoid confrontation, we slipped in and out the side door.
We don't know Utah and decided to just 'wing' trying to find a tree in the national forest. We got our tag at the ranger station and proceeded north. At 6000 ft, we thought the mountains were amazing. By 10,000 feet, we swore we had altitude sickness. We stopped several times along the twisting trail until we could find a decent area of what appeared to be Christmas trees. We ALL got out and wondered around. Jason took off leaving me with all the handicaps. Ellee insisted on hold Frank's leash; so fine whatever. This could be our ticket out of dealing with him for next 10 years. He's literally dragging her around and in five steps she and the dog are wrapped around a tree. Montgomery took one look up the hill and was a complete jerk about walking up and down the mountain. I get where he was coming from though. Then Summer; oh sweet Jesus. Please help that child. She would wonder off, find a tree that was about 35ft tall and say "what about this?" I have to admit, I liked where she was going with this whole tree business, because bigger is WAY better, but Jason didn't think we'd able to fit it on the truck and drive it home 3 hours, OR fit in the house. He said we HAVE TO have a couch. pooh. Then she picked one that was about 300 yards away, scaled the side of the mountain, with me (far) behind her, and we get to it and its about 4 trees growing together. I could have pushed her down. Then on the way down she found piles of snow and tried to have a snowball fight with Jason. Anyone who has ever witnessed Summer attempting to throw something forward, and watches it land behind her, can figure out how well that went. She barely managed to hit him at pointblank range.
So after about 3 hours, we finally found a tree. For any tree it's pretty nice; for a wild tree with mud covered dogs, a 3 year old with pneumonia, and Summer just being Summer, it is AWESOME. It's about 9 feet and for the two weeks we have had it up so far, only about a dozen needles fell off. Gotta love fresh cut trees!
Yes that's kitty hiding under the tree. He's NOT happy about Christmas decorations. All of the garland and cutout decorations that we upstairs are in piles where he pulls them down, makes a nest and then sits in them.
If a dog can smile, this is it. Frank is OVER THE MOON; I think Montgomery is looking for a more suitable family for him.
